Olufunke Baruwa works in the Foundation’s West Africa Office as Program Officer for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice where she leads work on ending violence against women and girls. She is a gender and development practitioner with almost two decades of experience from government and civil society focusing on public policy, gender advocacy, civil society strengthening and governance.
Prior to joining Ford, she was the Civil Society and Media Specialist in the Peace & Democratic Governance Office of USAID/Nigeria where she designed and led multi-million-dollar civil society strengthening projects. She has led several social policies and reforms in Nigeria and has served at various times as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Women's Trust Fund, a technical and financial resource for women in governance in Nigeria; Program Officer at the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund and National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP); Gender Advisor at the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs; and as a Technical Assistant Research, Policy & Planning in the Ministry of Communication Technology.
She holds a B.Sc. Business Administration and an MBA in Management from the Universities of Abuja and Nsukka, Nigeria with post-graduate certifications in Gender, Public Policy & Management and Corruption & Governance from the Universities of East Anglia, York and Sussex respectively.
